Eddy v. McGinnis, 20S03-8703-CV-302

• Citation: 523 N.E.2d 737
• Decision Date: 31 May 1988
• Docket Number: No. 20S03-8703-CV-302,20S03-8703-CV-302
• Parties: Frances EDDY, Appellant (Plaintiff Below), v. Brian McGINNIS, Appellee (Defendant Below).
• Court: Supreme Court of Indiana

Page 737

523 N.E.2d 737

Frances EDDY, Appellant (Plaintiff Below), v. Brian McGINNIS, Appellee (Defendant Below).

No. 20S03-8703-CV-302.

Supreme Court of Indiana.

May 31, 1988.

Charles C. Wicks, Craig A. Reiff, Elkhart, for appellant.

James F. Groves, South Bend, for appellee.

SHEPARD, Chief Justice.

This interlocutory appeal challenges the constitutionality of Indiana Code Sec. 34-4-30-2. That statute provides that a defendant may not assert the possibility of criminal punishment as a defense to a claim for punitive damages. The issue is whether Ind.Code Sec. 34-4-30-2 violates the double jeopardy clause of the Indiana Constitution. We hold it does not.

Appellant Frances Eddy was injured when her car was struck by a car driven by Brian McGinnis. McGinnis had a blood alcohol content of .25 percent. The police ticketed him for driving while intoxicated, and the prosecutor later charged him with driving while intoxicated. The outcome of these charges is not a matter of record in this appeal.

Eddy brought a negligence action against McGinnis seeking compensatory and punitive damages. McGinnis moved for partial summary judgment on the issue of punitive damages, claiming that Ind.Code Sec. 34-4-30-2 ¹ was unconstitutional as a violation of the prohibition against double jeopardy. Ind. Const. art. I, Sec. 14. The trial court granted the motion and certified the order for an interlocutory appeal. We accepted jurisdiction under Appellate Rule 4(B)(6)(b).

In reviewing the constitutionality of this statute, we are mindful that every enactment of our General Assembly stands before this Court cloaked with a presumption of constitutionality. American National Bank & Trust Co. v. Indiana Department of Highways (1982), Ind., 439 N.E.2d 1129; State v. Cooper (1839), 5 Blckf. 258. If there are two possible interpretations of the statute, and by one interpretation the statute would be invalid but by the other valid, the Court should adopt the interpretation which will uphold the statute. Book v. Board of Flood Control Commissioners (1959), 239 Ind. 160, 156 N.E.2d 87. A review of case law on the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution and art. I, Sec. 14 of the Indiana Constitution suggests why the legislature's enactment should be upheld.

I. The Federal Double Jeopardy Clause

Comparison with the Fifth Amendment is helpful, but not controlling. While the U.S. Supreme Court has not decided this question, existing case law suggests that civil punishment for acts which violate criminal statutes does not violate the Fifth Amendment, which states: "nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb...." U.S. Const. amend. V. "In the constitutional sense, jeopardy describes the risk that is traditionally associated with a criminal prosecution." Breed v. Jones, 421 U.S. 519, 528, 95 S.Ct. 1779, 1785, 44 L.Ed.2d 346, 354 (1975). "Unless th[e] sanction was intended as punishment, so that the proceeding is essentially criminal, the double jeopardy clause provided for the defendant in criminal prosecutions is not applicable." Helvering v. Mitchell, 303 U.S. 391, 398-99, 58 S.Ct. 630, 633, 82 L.Ed. 917, 921 (1938).

The Court in Helvering addressed a section of the revenue act which provided for a penalty of one half any deficiency due to fraud. This penalty was not barred by the double jeopardy clause. The Court reasoned:

Congress may impose both a criminal and a civil sanction in respect to the same act or omission; for the double jeopardy clause prohibits merely punishing twice, or attempting a second time to punish criminally, for the same offense.

Id. at 399, 58 S.Ct. at 633, 82 L.Ed. at 922.

The bar against double jeopardy thus applies if the sanction is intended as punishment, rendering the proceeding essentially criminal. A remedy does not lose the quality of a civil action because more than the amount of actual damages is recovered. United States ex rel. Marcus v. Hess, 317 U.S. 537, 63 S.Ct. 379, 87 L.Ed. 443 (1943). The Court in Marcus concluded that double damages as a penalty for defrauding the United States government did not constitute an essentially criminal proceeding. While punishment may result so far as the wrongdoer is concerned, this is not sufficient to label the sanction criminal. Id. at 551, 63 S.Ct. at 388, 87 L.Ed. at 453.

The Supreme Court has not determined if punitive damages arising in a private civil action give rise to a double jeopardy claim. The Fifth Circuit, however, has addressed the issue and applied the Supreme Court's analysis in Breed. Hansen v. Johns-Manville Products Corp., 734 F.2d 1036 (5th Cir.1984). The Hansen court found significance in the purpose of the proceeding, the potential consequences, and the identity of the plaintiff.

In Breed, the purpose of the juvenile proceeding was to determine whether the defendant had violated criminal law, and the possible consequences included the stigma of a criminal violation and deprivation of liberty. The U.S. Supreme Court found the proceeding to be essentially criminal and entitled to double jeopardy protection.

In contrast, the purpose of the proceeding in Hansen was to determine gross negligence, a determination which, of itself, carried no criminal penalties. The potential loss of property through punitive damages did not carry the serious consequences of a criminal sanction. Moreover, the action was brought by a private individual, not by the state. The Fifth Circuit therefore determined "that punitive damages awarded in a private lawsuit by an individual plaintiff are not part of an 'essentially criminal' proceeding and, thus, do not fall within the purview of the prohibition against double jeopardy." Hansen, 734 F.2d at 1042.

II. History of Indiana's Double Jeopardy Clause

The Indiana Constitution provides: "No person shall be put in jeopardy twice for the same offense." Ind. Const. art. I, Sec. 14. McGinnis argues that the framers of the Indiana Constitution intended this double jeopardy clause to have a broader scope than the federal clause which protects against "jeopardy of life and limb." U.S. Const. amend. V. The history of the Indiana Constitution, however, does not reveal any intent to apply provisions against double jeopardy outside the context of criminal prosecutions.

The documented history of the Indiana double jeopardy clause reveals that its purpose is the regulation of criminal proceedings. Our constitutional prohibition against double jeopardy originated in the Indiana Constitution of 1816, which provided "[t]hat in all criminal prosecutions, the accused ... shall not be ... twice put in jeopardy for the same offence." Ind. Const. of 1816 art. I, Sec. 13. This provision was included in the Indiana Constitution of 1851 upon the recommendation of the committee on the rights and privileges of the inhabitants of the State. Sections four, five, six and seven of Report No. 20 became sections 13, 14, 15 and 17 of Article I of the 1851 Constitution, Convention Journal 1850, 187 (1936). Covering such matters as double jeopardy, self-incrimination and bail, these provisions were treated by the convention as "sections, referring to the manner in which criminals shall be tried." 2 Debates of the Indiana Convention 1389 (1935).

III. History of Indiana Rule

The leading case on this subject held that punitive damages cannot be imposed when the defendant may be subject to criminal sanctions. Taber v. Hutson (1854), 5 Ind. 322. In Taber, the trial court gave a jury instruction allowing the jury to find exemplary damages in a civil action for assault and battery. Punitive damages were not authorized by statute. This Court found that allowing punitive damages where the offender is subject to both civil remedy and criminal prosecution did not

accord with the spirit of our institutions. The constitution declares, that 'no person shall be twice put in jeopardy for the same offence;' and though that provision may not relate to the remedies secured by civil proceedings, still it serves to illustrate a fundamental principle inculcated by every well-regulated system of government....

Id. at 325.

The Court cited Indiana's 1816 constitutional provision against double jeopardy, not as binding constitutional authority, but as an illustration of a fundamental common law principle. The Court did not hold that the rule against punitive damages itself was a constitutional rule. Indeed, the Court observed that the double jeopardy provision "may not relate to the remedies secured by civil proceedings...." Id. Contrary to the assertion of today's dissenters, the Taber Court neither relied upon nor cited the Fifth Amendment.

In another leading case, this Court considered the constitutionality of a statute which created a civil cause of action against an individual who sells liquor to one who was in the habit of becoming intoxicated. The statute also allowed the recovery of exemplary damages. Koerner v. Oberly (1877), 56 Ind. 284. Because such an act was also a crime, this Court determined "that the provision of the statute allowing exemplary damages, as applied to cases like the present, violates the fundamental principle embodied in the Bill of Rights, that no person shall be put in jeopardy twice for the same offense; and that, as applied to such cases, it is inoperative and void." Id. at 287. The central authority cited for this proposition was Taber, a decision resting on common law. The Court cited as additional authority cases which also relied on Taber without mention of any constitutional bar. See Johnson v. Vuthrick (1855), 7 Ind. 137; Struble v. Nodwift (1858), 11 Ind. 64; Butler v. Mercer (1860), 14 Ind. 479; Nossaman v. Rickert (1862), 18 Ind. 350; Humphries v. Johnson (1863), 20 Ind. 190; Meyer v. Bohlfing (1873), 44 Ind. 238.

This Court in State ex rel. Scobey v. Stevens (1885), 103 Ind. 55, 2 N.E. 214, considered a criminal statute which prohibited any public...